Gloom And Doom From The Associated Press

      From the Associated Press:

As millions of baby boomers flood Social Security with applications for benefits, the program's $2.7 trillion surplus is starting to look small. ...

Since 2010, Social Security has been paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes, adding to the urgency for Congress to address the program's long-term finances.

"To me, urgent doesn't begin to describe it," said Chuck Blahous, one of the public trustees who oversee Social Security. "I would say we're somewhere between critical and too late to deal with it." ...

Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue said he is frustrated that little has been done to solve a problem that is only going to get harder to fix as 2033 approaches. If changes are done soon, they can be spread out over time, perhaps sparing current retirees while giving workers time to increase their savings.

"It won't be easy but it's just going to get harder the longer they wait," Astrue said.  ...

     The article does not mention the fact that lifting the cap on earnings subject to the F.I.C.A. tax would solve the problem. It sounds as if Charles Blahous regards that idea as being unworthy of any consideration.

We're Frugal

     From the Associated Press:

Compared with most public pension systems in Europe, Social Security is downright frugal.

On average, European pensions are more much generous than Social Security, providing retirees with benefits that come closer to matching the wages they earned when they were working. Americans are expected to rely more heavily on private pensions and savings when they retire.

European workers also have been able to retire earlier than American workers, though many European countries are retreating from those policies, a subject that has caused more than a little unrest.

Taxes also are higher in most European countries and some of their retirement systems are facing worse financial problems than Social Security.

Battle Of The Op Eds

     The recent op ed pieces attacking the Social Security disability programs are stirring up a spirited response. Here's one from the Jacksonville Times-Union.

The Ryan Plan On Social Security

     Paul Ryan's budget plan would:

• Means test Social Security
• Raise full retirement age to 70
• Allow workers the right to divert one-third of their F.I.C.A. taxes to optional private Social Security accounts
• Alter the way in which average wages are computed for determining the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), the amount one receives upon retirement, in such a way as to reduce benefits for all but the lowest wage workers

Educational Loans Eating Into Social Security Benefits

     From Smart Money:

According to government data, compiled by the Treasury Department at the request of SmartMoney.com, the federal government is withholding money from a rapidly growing number of Social Security recipients who have fallen behind on federal student loans. From January through August 6, the government reduced the size of roughly 115,000 retirees' Social Security checks on those grounds. That's nearly double the pace of the department's enforcement in 2011; it's up from around 60,000 cases in all of 2007 and just 6 cases in 2000. ...

Many of these retirees aren't even in hock for their own educations. Consumer advocates say that in the majority of the cases they've seen, the borrowers went into debt later in life to help defray education costs for their children or other dependents.

Spending Money To Save Money -- Is It Really So Hard To Understand?

     Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has done a study using a database of persons who are receiving Social Security retirement benefits but who have not used Medicare in the preceding three years even though they are 96 years of age or older. OIG estimates that if Social Security contacted or attempted to contact these people, that they would find that the agency is paying benefits to several hundred deceased individuals. OIG estimates that $99 million could be saved if this were done.

     Unfortunately, it takes manpower to do this sort of thing and Social Security has less manpower and more and more work to do. Projects like this which would save money are deferred because the agency has to answer its telephones and deal with people filing claims. 

     There's no way around it. It comes up all the time. You have to spend a little money at Social Security to save a lot of money in benefit payments. Republicans in Congress have a hard time understanding a concept that any businessperson can quickly grasp.

Online Calendar For Hearing Availability Coming

     Under the Paperwork Reduction Act, federal agencies must obtain the approval of the Office of Management and Budget before using any new form, including electronic forms, that requires information from the public. Agencies must post notice of requests for approval of a new form in the Federal Register. This notice appeared in the Federal Register today:

SSA [Social Security Administration] is creating an online-based scheduling tool, the Automated Scheduling Application (ASA), to document the availability and special needs of participants for hearings before administrative law judges (ALJ). The respondents are disability applicants or recipients, ALJ staff, SSA Hearing Office employees, appointed representatives, medical experts, vocational experts, and verbatim hearing recorders who need to schedule or request special needs related to an ALJ hearing. All respondents will use the ASA system (via SSA's Intranet for SSA employees, and a public-facing Internet site for members of the public) to document their hearings availability and needs, and to view scheduled hearings in an electronic calendar.

A Very Bad Sign

     From the Federal Times:

The Social Security Administration on Monday offered early retirements to 9,000 employees, almost 14 percent of its workforce.

Anyone taking voluntary early retirement must retire by Sept. 30. The offers are effective immediately, SSA said in an e-mail to Federal Times. SSA is not offering buyouts.

To be eligible, employees must have completed 20 years of creditable service and be at least 50 years of age, or have at least 25 years of creditable service at any age. They must have been continuously on SSA’s payroll since Dec. 26, 2011. ...

SSA currently has more than 62,000 employees. The agency already is struggling with last year’s 6 percent reduction in staffing, which has forced it to rely on overtime or close field offices to the public a half-hour early.

SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue told the Senate Finance Committee on May 17 that further cuts in fiscal 2012 and fiscal 2013 would force the agency to cut its hours even further next year.

Staffing cuts also could hurt SSA’s ability to reduce its claims backlog, which has troubled the agency for years.

      This strongly suggests that the agency is trying to avoid or reduce furloughs once the new fiscal year begins on October 1.
     There's no question about who's responsible for this. It's Congressional Republicans.